I write, I spill the beans, I hopefully give you something about which to think… artist.author.poet.preacher

With the Word in the Word

If all we do is study the Bible to study the Bible we only have another religion. And, too many do. If we study the Bible to better know who God is, to learn His voice, to learn what it is He has done, to learn what it is He will do and will do again, so we can have a relationship with Him, then we study the Bible to better support a relationship – not a religion.

It was ever God’s intention that we have a relationship with Him. In the Garden in Eden (Genesis 1 and 2), God walked with Adam and Eve. Even after Adam sinned, God still had a relationship with Man; albeitly, not nearly as close as it once was. At several times in Biblical history it is noted that God walked with or had a relationship with certain men: Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David. It has ever been about our relationship with God. He did say we were made in His image and likeness, that we were His children, His offspring, and He is our Father.

With it being established that God is our Father and we His children, it makes sense that He would want to have a relationship with His children. True, some parents do not. True, some parents are purely bad examples of parentage. But, God is not. God has established a pattern of behavior noting consistency, firmness, fairness, righteousness, discipline, love, and blessing. It is in the Bible. You can read it. Here is the good part: God wants to teach us His Word.

In the gospel of John, God shows John that in the beginning there was God and there was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. There was nothing made that was not made by the Word. And, the Word became flesh (human, just like us) and dwelt among us. (John 1.1-5, 14) We later find that the Word was and is Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed salvation of God’s people. And, He wanted to restore the relationship we had with the Father. He taught we could. He showed we could. And, He gave himself so we could.

So now, the Word – the written word – becomes alive. According to the writer of Hebrews, the Word is sharper than a two-edged sword, dividing even the soul and the spirit. The Word dwelt among us as Emmanuel – God with us, then He left us – not as orphans but as heirs with a promise. He left so that we could experience and live with the Spirit of the Living God, so the God’s Spirit could ever dwell with us… if we would accept Him.

The world studies religious literature to make themselves wise or to justify themselves or to perform some kind of penance for past deeds done wrong. It is “religious duty” self-imposed or imperiously imposed on others – to cover the guilt of those imposing the religion on others. For those in Christ, you do not have to do that. The Lord God Himself will instruct you, teach you, and bring all things Jesus said to remembrance. In other words, you can ask God into your life through the works Jesus did and receive the Holy Spirit of God through His grace and be taught by God directly – as your Father, as your God, as the one Who loves you without measure.

God, who made everything made, will spend time with you going over what He has done, what He had written, and explain it all to you. The nuances and applicability of the Bible to current times and current sociology, anthropology, and psychology is amazing. It is an opportunity to be with the Word (the Living God of Creation) while in the Word (the written documentation recorded by men as God’s Spirit directed) and to learn thereby from the author and creator of the universe.

With the Word in the Word is really about having God with you as your tutor and instructor and your counselor as you study God’s Word, the Bible. It is no longer a religious duty being performed. It is an act of relationship building, an elongated conversation on God and Man. I encourage you to take this approach.

In February of 1982, I remember telling my mother I was bored. I still see the moment clearly. She was in our yellow painted kitchen preparing something for dinner. She simply said, “Go read your Bible.” I recall saying no. Later I found my children’s Bible my mother gave me and in February 1982, I read the Bible through for the first time. I read it cover to cover with a single question, “How does God think?” And, He began to show me how He thinks.

It has been a few years since then and God continually shows me how He thinks, how Man thinks, and how things have transpired; all from the pages of the omnibus compilation of Jewish Hebrew and Greek texts called the Holy Bible. And, this same God who has walked and talked with me since I was a child has ever pointed to this book, the Bible, as His truth.

I encourage you, again, invite God into your life through what Jesus did, receive His Holy Spirit, and walk with Him through life and the Bible. Do this and you will find your life immensely challenged and changed for the better. Walk with the Word in the Word. Amen?